JLMoran

Agree with @smokeybandit, you'll get a pretty even mix of answers on that. But, given you said the ports were better on Mariner it sounds to me like you are more about the ports than the ship. I'm the same way, and even before reading your comment I was inclined to say, "Whichever has the better ports." That is my default answer for any cruise I'm looking at, and part why my unofficial title here (after Chief Science Officer) is "Oasis-class Denier" -- those ships just don't go to a broad-enough variety of ports to suit my needs. At this time, anyway. But there are many here for whom the ship is the destination, and the ports are secondary. And for them, the Oasis ships are almost always the better bet because there is just so much more to do.

Which is funny, because when I was first looking at hybrids years ago, the Explorer was one of the higher-rated options. But I just loved my BIL's Fusion Hybrid (his was the first model year released; 2011?) and have been itching to get one ever since. This one that was just delivered today is WAAAY more refined and spacious feeling than that original model (which IIRC had a lower roofline and might have been a bit narrower). And wow is it quiet! Took it for a test drive on delivery, road noise was almost non-existent. Oh, and for those who are getting their second shot of Pfizer (and probably Moderna, based on tales I've heard) -- be ready for a rough day after. I was knocked out all day yesterday with body aches, low-grade fever, a sometimes-pounding headache, and just feeling totally beaten-down. Tylenol (all that I'm allowed now that I'm a week out from surgery) didn't do a heck of a lot, but at least it was only the one day of miserable-ness. You know you're feeling lousy when you choose to watch the Ultimate Edition cut of "Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice", followed by the Zack Snyder cut of "Justice League"... and don't feel like that was seven hours of your life you'll never get back! ?

My younger daughter, who many of you know as “the artist”, just submitted a short manga (Japanese comic book) to an art competition, and she has shared the link to view it. She’s been working on this for months, and I just had to share it here. When you click the link, you need to enter passcode “chessisfun” to open the book reader. Also, be aware that as a manga it’s read from right to left, top to bottom. https://share.clip-studio.com/en-us/contents/view?code=bbe0e579-8849-4e99-a96c-8c464fc89713&at=1617498438 If you look up the user “Bubblegumkin” on Instagram, you can see a higher resolution version of the full chessboard. She meant for that to be a 2-page center spread, but wasn’t able to make it span the pages; you definitely want to get a closer look at it, the detail she put into it is incredible!

A long-awaited day has finally arrived... Bit longer this time around, thanks to a larger crowd. But still only 30 minutes from getting on line to getting my arm jabbed; about 25 minutes of that time was spent just slowly snaking along the line. Arm is a little sore and not really anything else so far, but I remember it takes around 8 hours before second-shot side effects really start to hit. Hoping my immune system shows a good, strong response to this second jab. Oh, and @rjac -- I totally hear what you're saying about not taking any major time or spending money. But the front part of the car was really quite a mess and I'd be embarrassed handing it over to the delivery guy in that state. I just used one of our older vacuums to clean up the worst of what was on the front mats and floor, and some cleaning wipes to get the major grunge up off the dashboard and console surfaces. The rest I'll leave to their detailing team; at least now the car looks lived in but not like a dumping ground. ?

But, no big surprise... they still don’t recommend that anyone actually go out and travel just yet. Still, this is basically the CDC conceding that those who are fully vaccinated can make their own decisions about whether to go on vacation, and they won’t say no. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/04/02/cdc-fully-vaccinated-may-travel/

So this week has been kind of busy. Started off the week getting my surgery date locked in, regardless of which procedure he'll end up doing -- April 12. So I have just over a week of putting up with this, and then the recovery fun begins. Once I had the date locked in, I called up the leave of absence coordinator and let them know I'd be out of the office starting on that date. "How long will you be out of work this time?" Umm.... doctor said to give it a month. I had the MRA taken on my leg yesterday. Went fine, was a bit different than a regular MRI. I was still slid into the giant tube (no longer the old coffin-style, thank goodness) and still had to stay completely still for 30 minutes or so. But before all that happened, I had an IV started in my arm. And then I had a bunch of ECG-type electrode pads (which are connected to the MRI machine) placed on my chest. During the final 10 minutes of the test, they injected a contrast dye through the IV, and the MRI used the ECG signal to sync its scans to my heart beat before the dye could break down in just a couple of minutes. The goal was to catch the contrast dye, which contains a semi-magnetic metal and interacts with the MRI's magnetic field, as it flowed through the arteries of my leg so that they could get a clear picture of the arteries. When it was all done and I was told all the images were clear, I asked the technician how often he has to do that particular test. I was expecting him to say a couple a month, maybe just one every few months. I was way off. He said he gets one patient like me in a year. I got a CD with the results as I left, but there wasn't really a need. I called the doctor's office this morning and confirmed he had his own copy waiting for him on his desk. Unfortunately, I'm still waiting to hear back from him as far as whether it gave the "right" results that clear me for this reversed sural flap procedure, or if I'll "just" be getting a skin graft. Since I'm in hurry-up-and-wait mode, I just used the money I haven't spent on cruises (and then some) to buy a car. My 2011 Sonata has been a bit overdue for replacement for a while now, and this lovely lady just showed up in Carvana's inventory last night. Fully loaded, only 10,376 miles, and nicely under my budget thanks to a higher than expected trade-in value. Couldn't have been easier. Well, besides the two months of frustration searching daily for a car like this, finding a few that could have equally worked but got snatched up by someone before I even knew it was there, a few more that were well over my budget, and a whole lot of "NOPE!" inventory. They'll be delivering it to my house on Monday, and hauling away the old car. Good thing I have tomorrow off; I need the time to clean out the Hyundai, give it a good vacuuming and take it to the car wash.

I was thinking it was this:

There's a right version of that?!? ??

This may be true from the perspective of potential spread and risk to the general community. But there are starting to be reports of a large number of kids in this cohort who contracted Covid, had only very mild symptoms, but are showing indications of long-haul Covid or other long-term negative health effects. Things like asthma, "brain fog", the bizarre issue with toes that turn blue (indicating circulatory problems), and more. The disease isn't fatal in kids, and it's rarely severe. And for whatever reason, kids are much less likely to spread it. But they are still vulnerable and at risk of long-term health problems that will impact them for way longer, on multiple levels, than any person in their 40s or 50s. My 20-year old daughter caught it and was lucky to have a very mild case with no apparent after-effects. As a singer and performing artist, her post-college career would have been DOA if Covid had done any major / lasting damage to her lungs. My 17-year old has asthma and was lucky enough to get fully vaccinated last month; I'm very relieved, as she could have been totally wrecked if she got infected.

Just realized that the best example is probably @mpoole3_361’s wedding. (hope I tagged the right Michael Poole account!) If he wasn’t able to get a normal hour time block for this kind of shindig on his wedding (“You do know who I am, right?” ??), ain’t no one getting it.

What I found odd about that article was the fact that the woman first mentioned in the story noted that several of her family members also contracted Covid after being vaccinated. Assuming they all got vaccinated at the same site, it makes me wonder if they (and probably others who went there) got a bad batch of vaccine (e.g., left out of the freezer too long) or something similar. Statistically, you'd expect to see the numbers of positive cases scattered around like most of the report mentions (multiple states, nothing finer-grained than county level). For a half-dozen members of the same family, who the article suggests all live close to one another, to all contract the virus smacks more of a sub-par set of vials, or maybe sub-optimal administration of the vaccine, in their vaccine center than any major shortcoming with the vaccine overall.

I haven't gone more than once a year. But from comparing notes with others who've gone the same year and on different ships, across multiple years, it's become apparent that the Chef's Table menu on Royal is now more of a "best of the specialty venues" event. There may be some very slight variation from what's served in the specialty restaurants, but overall the menu offerings are regularly found in CK (the smoked tomato soup, and the lobster salad with hearts of palm), Jamie's Italian (the fettuccine with truffle cream sauce), and Wonderland (they regularly serve The World for dessert now). The only things that might be originals / chef creations would be the entrees (branzino, steaks, etc.) but I have a feeling those are also options in Chops or one of the other specialty venues like 150 Central Park these days. When I sailed on Freedom and did Chef's Table, it was fantastic because I'd never been on another ship and hadn't experienced their specialty options or CK. After doing a sailing with CK dinner every night, and trying Wonderland and Jamie's, CK has lost a lot of its luster since I can get much of the same food for a lot less. Where CK still has value, imo, is in the wine pairings. You get a lot of wine in that meal for a heck of a lot less than you'd pay buying by the glass. And it's been paired very well. My meal had only one pairing I didn't care for, but that's purely because it was a cabernet and I just don't like any cab, full stop.

Are you making these requests through Royal's wedding planning service, or as direct requests to Royal through "normal" channels? I can say that I definitely saw a wedding gathering on Anthem of the seas in the mid-afternoon, on a sea day, in the Music Hall. What I don't remember is whether that was just the ceremony or if there was any reception-type activity afterward. That was on my last trip to Bermuda in 2019, I think I mentioned it in my live blog of that trip (third link in my signature). I have some vague memory that they were doing the reception later that night, so maybe there is some restriction with party-type events (as opposed to a wedding ceremony with no alcohol served or music being played).

Like with so much right now, the answer is most likely, “Yes. Eventually.” Each island has to get supply. But the first-world countries all have first dibs due to pre-negotiated / pre-paid contracts. The US government has negotiated to send AZ vaccine to Canada and Mexico; I imagine that until it’s decided that there’s enough here / in the UK / in the EU to cover everyone in their own populations, island nations and other smaller governments will be similarly stuck waiting for handouts. Places like St. Maarten or BVI may get supplies more quickly if they have arrangements with their “parent” government, but independent islands could be waiting for a fair while yet.

I'm keeping this cruise-related, don't worry. CDC has confirmed (via a study of ~4,000 US essential workers who were monitored as they continued to work) that after two doses, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines both are 90% effective at preventing infection. And if you don't get infected, you can't spread the virus (not even asymptomatically). https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/03/29/vaccine-effective-essential-workers-study/ The article goes on to talk about the study design and logistical challenges it faced (e.g., having to negotiate with UPS and FedEx to get thousands of sample kits shipped out and sent back in every week), as well as other potential challenges (e.g., the comparatively small number of participants, and compliance of participants with properly taking their own nasal swabs and sending them in on time each week). But this is great news for the ship's crews and the upcoming vaccine-mandated cruses. Crew members are probably breathing a huge collective sigh of relief as they learn about this. And with such great prevention of infection, a ship that has nothing but vaccinated crew and mostly vaccinated passengers (i.e., most kids on board won't be vaccinated) is effectively a community with true herd immunity. I would sincerely hope it would also allow for elimination of mask requirements while on board, at least while outside on the pool deck and other very well-ventilated areas. Heck, given the studies that proved the cruise lines' ventilation improvements truly blocked airborne spread of the virus across the ship, it might even allow for elimination of masks throughout. That light just keeps getting brighter, and it's not an oncoming freight train. It's the sun rising on a cobalt blue sea, with a ship sailing serenely across the waters.

Richard Attenborough (David's brother) played Hammond in Jurassic Park. And yes, he died in 2014. Just checked on Wikipedia. He was 90, meanwhile his brother is 94 and still doing nature documentary narration! ?

I realize only a small subset of people here will be Apple TV+ subscribers, but they're showing a new documentary, narrated by David Attenborough, covering the changes that have been observed in nature over the past year of lockdowns. The description specifically mentions the big reduction in cruise ship operations, so I figured it was semi-topical. https://www.imore.com/year-earth-changed-premiere-earth-day-apple-tv I'm guessing only a tiny bit of the show will specifically discuss cruise ships, but it should still be a good watch. I'm a sucker for anything with David (or Richard) Attenborough.

I would be willing to wager that Celebrity has negotiated (or is actively negotiating) with St. Maarten to require just one fee, and that it will come out with the final protocols around 30 days before sail date. This sounds very similar to how things are being run in Bermuda for immunized visitors, and I would expect that final protocols will look very similar between the two.

I appreciate the thought, but my wife is pretty much telling me (without saying out loud) that she doesn't want to cruise until there's absolute certainty. She doesn't like uncertainty with anything, and is already dealing with the stress around my upcoming second surgery and how am I going to do with recovery. Better that I not push it if she's made up her mind, at least for now.

Unfortunately, that won’t be enough to satisfy my wife. Unless she hears that masks aren’t necessary in the ports or on ship, I don’t think any reduction in expected cost is going to sway her now.

So I looked up nonstop airfare from EWR and JFK to Bermuda. Least expensive flight that includes a checked bag per person was $1,000 for a single American flight in "Main Cabin" (basic economy only allowed one carry-on); JetBlue was more expensive even with their bottom-tier price that includes checked bag but no carry-on, and it only went up from there with other airlines. Talked about with my wife, and between that cost on top of expected cruise fare and the fact that we'll still have to wear masks in Bermuda and take the additional Covid tests per their gov't requirements, it was just too much. Not going to book this, as much as I want to.

My wife apparently agrees with you, @monctonguy. Just had a talk with her, and between her concerns about these protocols, and the cost of airfare on top of the cruise ($1,000+ for the two of us, per Kayak; plus long-term parking or a car service), she's lost her desire to book this. So, no more cruise booking for 2021. ? But at least we had that conversation now and not after I made a booking on Monday that would likely be NRD.

So I was talking about this with my TA this morning, while going over my strategy for booking one of these Vision sailings. She's also puzzled how on earth we'll be able to go out on excursions in Bermuda if the ship doesn't actually stay there for port days until the end of the sailing, when the current government protocols state that on arrival you have to quarantine while waiting for the results of the on-arrival PCR test. We agreed that what is most likely to happen (though of course we'll still need to see formal documentation) is what I outlined above. A big giveaway will be if Air2Sea is offering day-of-embarkation flights; that would almost certainly mean that you land, get a nasal swab, and then by the time the ship is back that test result is available and you're clear to travel the island. Rationale being that everyone on the ship is vaccinated and also effectively "quarantined" on the ship the entire time. Coco Cay doesn't count as leaving quarantine because it's all RCI staff who are also vaccinated and haven't left CC. If it turns out that Air2Sea is mandatory for booking flights (not yet known), and day-of-embarkation flights are the only option given, that's the real clue this is the protocol. That would mean all guests are taking Royal's transport from airport to ship, and the driver of that bus will likely also be vaccinated. This ensures all guests avoid potentially exposing Bermudians -- cab drivers, bus drivers and surrounding bus passengers, etc. -- while following Bermuda's protocol.

Unless leaving the ship with a skeleton crew in a warm shutdown is costing them hundreds of thousands a week, in which case losing tens of thousands instead is a worthy trade-off. Not sure if that kind of info is available for a proper comparison, but that's certainly one reason I could see for making that kind of business decision. As you said, it's really hard to know as a guest. But they could truly be making a decision not so much of, "Ship 1 would cost us $50,000 a week to operate while Ship 2 will make us an average $5,000 a week in profit", as "Ship 1 is costing us $125,000 a week to leave in warm shutdown and Ship 2 is costing us $175,000; at best, we can offset $100,000 a week average with X% guest capacity on either one, so let's pick the ship that we're most sure can maintain that guest count the best."

I just had to re-check the official FAQ to make sure, but yes indeed-y these sailings will qualify! (emphasis added) I was already going to exactly hit the 30 points for Platinum with a 7-night sailing on Vision, but now I'll be 7 points toward Emerald to boot. ?